Ruler living at the time of the New Testament

Pilate

Luke 3:1; 13:1; 23:1–25; John 18:28–19:22

Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea in the days of Tiberius (Luke 3:1). Jesus was brought to him early in the morning, and he asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:1–2). He found no basis for a charge, “What is truth?” he said, and he repeatedly tried to release Jesus (John 18:33–38; Luke 23:13–22). His wife sent him a message about a dream and told him to have nothing to do with “that righteous man” (Matthew 27:19). Yet, fearing a riot and the charge that he was no friend of Caesar, he washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person,” and handed Jesus over to be crucified (Matthew 27:24–26; John 19:12–16). Paul recalls that Christ Jesus testified the good confession before him (1 Timothy 6:13).

Governor when John the Baptist began preaching and when Jesus was crucified. Philo and Josephus describe him as harsh and provocative, and Luke mentions Galileans “whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1). A stone found at Caesarea in 1961 names him prefect of Judea. After he attacked a crowd of Samaritans at Mount Gerizim, he was sent to Rome to answer for it in AD 36.

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